A complaint has been lodged against former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim and two former Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councillors, Anwar Khan and Shams Iqbalin connection with the collapse of an under-construction warehouse in Taratala that claimed 16 lives and left 17 others injured.
Police said they have received the complaint alleging that several illegal buildings had been constructed in the area and that the role of the three former civic representatives needs to be investigated. Officials confirmed that the complaint has been taken on record and that the investigation is underway.
The development comes days after the fatal collapse of the four-storey under-construction warehouse at around noon on Wednesday. Rescue teams recovered 16 bodies from the debris while 17 injured persons were shifted to hospitals for treatment.
The complaint follows remarks made by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in the Legislative Assembly, where he stated that the previous Trinamool Congress-led board of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had sanctioned the warehouse project despite what he described as a faulty design. He criticised the former mayor without naming Firhad Hakim and said those responsible would not be spared.
Police have already arrested Kalicharan Banerjeethe former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Hakim. A city court on Friday remanded him to police custody until July 4 as part of the ongoing investigation.
Reacting to the developments, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that if the former mayor was arrested by Saturday evening, it would demonstrate that the Chief Minister intended to act against those responsible. Otherwise, he alleged, the remarks would be viewed as an attempt to exert political pressure on the former mayor.
Responding to Ghosh’s comments, BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said the government does not function based on political statements and questioned why similar demands were not raised following the Posta bridge collapse in 2016.
Police have arrested six persons so far in connection with the warehouse collapse. Among those killed were Mannu Kumar (19), Ghee Kumar (20), and Sirchand Kumar (22)members of a family from Munger district in Bihar who had travelled to Kolkata for construction work.
Survivor Manikchand Kumar said six members of his family had been working at the site for about a month when the structure suddenly collapsed. He, along with his father Rajendra Ram and elder brother Sohid Kumarsustained injuries, while his cousin and two brothers died in the incident.
Manikchand also shared a video recorded on his mobile phone from beneath the debris shortly after the collapse, showing him trapped and bleeding before being rescued.
Police said the investigation is continuing to determine responsibility for the structural failure and examine whether construction norms and municipal approvals were violated.
Comments are closed.